Beauty behind the Madness
by XxXxHell's AngelxXxX
Summary: "Haruno Sakura, is dead." Uchiha Sasuke does not think these words matter to him. But when he returns to Konoha unexpectedly the day after her death, he is stunned. Sakura is more clever then he thought. With so many signs pointing to her still being alive, he must discover the dark truth. SasuSaku
1. I haunt you

**Beauty behind the Madness**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, how could I be behind on the Manga?**

 **I don't own Coming Clean-Hilary Duff, either.**

" _ **Haruno Sakura, is dead."**_

Dead.

 _Dead._

 _ **Dead.**_

Sasuke only nodded his head as he digested the information.

"How?"

The single worded question hung in the air. Sasuke hissed.

" _Tell me._ _ **Now.**_ _"_

"No one knows. She died in her sleep. Few suspect it was _murder_. Or possible suicide. "

Sasuke smirked. This was interesting.

~X~

"What do you mean, she's **dead?!** "

"Died in her sleep, they said… Tragic thing…"

"Sakura…, how?"

When the death of Haruno Sakura spread around the village, it left many people shocked. She was much loved by the people of Konoha, ninja and civilian.

When Sasuke Uchiha arrived, the day after her death, the village was even more shocked. The missing-nin, did not give a shit on what the others thought.

He swept through the crowd, sharringan activated, eyes scanning the people around him. Fear, astonishment, anger- he could see it all, evident in their faces.

Sasuke ignored it all, and headed for the loud blonde in the front of the crowd. His orange clad attire made him even more noticeable. Approaching him, the blonde turned, his face surprised, but tears streaming down his cheeks.

Uzumaki Naruto stood at the front of the crowd kneeling before his teammate. His face in surprise, but his eyes did not light up. He spoke, his throat dry, with sadness.

"S-Sasuke. Sakura she-"

Sasuke silenced him with a glare. "I know, dobe, but just do me a favour-and _shut up._ "

Naruto's eyes filled with anger, but he did not speak.

Red eyes scanned Sakura's lifeless body, as he identified faded chakra patterns, as he noted the low amount of dying chakra there was in her body.

This was unusual, but Sasuke did not make anything of it, just muttering "low chakra reserves." He continued the scan, finding no possible suicidal, or murder wounds.

Sasuke hissed in anger, there had to be _something._ Sakura would not just die. There was something- something he didn't know.

But as he noticed an irregular tenketsu. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in curiosity, but then, a sharp jab of pain occurred in his right eye.

He was out before he hit the floor.

* * *

Sasuke's head spun as he was trapped in a genjutsu. The world swirled into the all too familiar colours of red and black. He turned around as footsteps approached.

 _Tak._

 _Tak._

 _Tak._

Sasuke's sharringan eyes narrowed as he tried to identify the all-familiar chakra. The figure raised it's head, revealing another familiar face.

Sakura.

Sasuke's eyes widely looked at the figure in front of him. It was his only female teammate, but was it her genjutsu, or just someone else?

"Sasuke. You came after all."

Said person raised his head to meet emerald green eyes. "Who are you? **Answer me.** "

"You don't remember your own teammate? My, my, Sasuke, I'm disappointed."

Sasuke's eyes remained wary, but he relaxed a notch. "Prove it."

Sakura sighed. "Fine,then. What do you want for a question?"

"What happened when we first met our sensei?"

Sakura laughed dryly. "Easy. He fell for that stupid trap Naruto created."

Sasuke sighed, his tense stance relaxing visably. "So, you're dead. Why leave a genjutsu?"

" **That is where you are wrong."**

Sasuke's eyes widened, What did she mean? He didn't have time to open his mouth to question the statement, as Sakura beat him to it. "Go to the stone monument. My name will be added there soon, I am sure of it. Once it is added , go there, after the ceremony. **Go alone.** " Sakura's voice pleaded.

"Naruto-"

"Naruto would not understand. By setting this genjutsu to activate on your sharringan, I was taking a huge risk. There was a chance you wouldn't come. No one would discover the truth." She smiled sadly, eyes staring at the ground.

"The truth-"

Sakura shook her head, her bangs falling into her face. "Now is not the time. Find me, and I will tell you everything."

"Sakura-" Sasuke began, but was once again cut off.

"Goodbye, Sasuke, at least for now."

Sasuke shook his head. He didin't understand. Sakura was being way too vague for his liking. "Don't go. I don't understand everything." His tone was flat, but inside he was pleading.

Sakura smiled. "Just remember, _I was always the genjutsu type._ "

Sasuke just watched, as Sakura's body became faded, gradually fading into the darkness, until he was left alone with the red and black again.

He barely thought, as the darkness swallowed him again.

* * *

Sasuke woke in woke in Konoha hospital, his head aching as he attempted to sit up. The machine recording his heartbeat, beeped annoyingly, as he massaged his aching temples. The clean white room was spotless, as the pure white walls staring down on him seemed to make his head ache even more.

Groaning, Sasuke sat against the pillows in thought, as he tried to recall his memories. It all came rushing back, as his temples throbbed, yet again.

.Genjutsu.

Sasuke roared, as he yanked the IV tube out of his arm, as the alarm went off. He had seconds to think, before the medics came rushing in his room. They held him down, as Tsunade made her way in the room, Naruto and Shizune at her heels.

Naruto ran to Sasuke's side, before quickly lauching into talk. "Sasuke! Man, you were like there, ya know, sharringan and all….*huff*…and you looked at Sakura-chan….and you fainted! Yeah,just like that! God knows-"

Kakashi entered the room, stopping Naruto's talking marathon. His one eye scanned the room, finally landing on Sasuke. "What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sneered. "Welcoming as ever, Kakashi."

Naruto cut in with the same question as Kakashi. "Yeah, Sasuke, what happened?"

 _Naruto would not understand._

Sakura's word flowing back to him, Sasuke allowed himself a pause before replying. "…I don't know, dobe. Don't ask again."

Naruto frowned, but did not comment.

"What happened when I was out?"

This time, it was Kakashi who answered. " You've been out for 4 days. It's around 1000, and a lot has happened… Sakura's…" He did not answer, head bowed, as the medics left the room.

Naruto lost it. He started crying, as he said through his sobs, "Sakura…her name….w-was a-added to the _fucking_ memorial stone!"

"Naruto-" This time it was Kakashi.

"AND HER NAME'S THERE, BECAUSE SHE'S _**DEAD**_ _._ DEAD, SENSEI. AND I CAN'T BRING HER BACK." Naruto gasped for air, swallowing his rage.

Kakashi looked angry, but said nothing.

Sasuke took this as a chance to speak. "Where was Sakura before… uh, the _incident._ " Naruto growled at the word 'incident'.

"She was on a mission. A-rank." Kakashi answered. "She had almost had no chakra, but she was fine."

Naruto looked up at his sensei. "But, Kaka-Sensei, you didn't tell me it was A-rank!? But you said her chakra network was fine, so she couldn't of died in her sleep. Then…"

Sasuke set of a different topic. "When am I to be released from the hospital? "

Naruto grinned. "Glad you asked, bastard! You're released this afternoon. Shizune-san said you had a slight concussion. Should heal though!"

"Great. The last thing I want is you chasing your idiotic head after me, as I win the fight."

"BASTARD!"

* * *

Kakashi watched the interaction between his two students fondly.

It had been ages since Team 7 had last had a talk ( without killing each other ). The whole atmosphere in the room were just like they were genin.

Sakura. She would come and beat the two up, Naruto in particular. Kakashi had no idea if she still loved Sasuke, but if she did, she had hidden it well.

Hidden it until the day she died.

Kakashi sighed, his eyes tearing up slightly, as he gazed at Naruto and Sasuke. The longer he looked at them, he could just see Sakura laughing with them, screaming and punching.

He sighed. Why did it end up like this?

As reality sunk in, he could see the Sakura fading, until Naruto and Sasuke were alone once more.

Just like his old team. He could see him as Sasuke, Obito as Naruto, and Rin… Sakura. They were so _alike_ he once almost called Sakura 'Rin'.

Why? She didn't deserve this.

Sakura was far too, perfect, in one's sense. Kakashi didn't understand.

This was to confusing.

* * *

 _Let the rain fall down, and wake my dreams,_

 _Let it wash away, my sanity,_

 _Cause' I wanna' hear the thunder, I want to scream,_

 _Let the rain fall down, I'm coming clean._

* * *

Sasuke stood in front of the memorial stone, remembering Sakura's words. He traced the letters 'HARUNO SAKURA' , as he waited for the signal.

As he traced the name again, he looked at the stone. It rippled, and then it clicked.

Of Course.

" _Remember, I was always the Genjutsu type."_

Clues. Why did she lay clues, when she could just tell him.

Shifting his attention to the slab of rock, he formed the handseal, and muttered "Genjutsu:Kai!"

The rippling stopped, as the stone remained that way. But something was different.

He traced the name 'HARUNO SAKURA' again, and the slash on it.

 **HARUNO SAKURA**

Who? Why?

 _Sakura_ , his conscience told him. And he believed.

* * *

Emerald orbs watched Uchiha Sasuke, as he kneeled at the memorial stone. He stood, and turned to walk away, but then, expert hands threw a kunai.

The kunai had a note attached to the handle.

The figure smirked, brushed away a lock of pale pink hair, and away she went

Sasuke picked up the kunai, he read the note. He smirked subconsciously, and studied the kunai.

In particular the pink hair attached to it, and the initials.

 **Haruno. Sakura.**

 **TBC**

 **Reveiws and alerts are appreciated. PMs too.**


	2. I see you

**Beauty behind the Madness**

 **Thank you to:** **LilyRammsteiner, Linou1603, Rebeca13, The Plague Doctor.**

 **Special Thanks to:** **Lavendor Queen** **,** **angleofdestiny16** **.**

 **If I didn't write your name, I AM SORRY. I took me a while to post this chapter, and all the fun alerts came in and I couldn't update in time.**

 **EDIT 1/03/16 It's my birthday tomorrow! 2/03**

 **Edited 23/03/16 Grammar fixes, added content-**

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

 _Sasuke, I'm impressed._

 _You came. I'm laying clues for you. I can't just tell you. It's too dangerous._

 _If you decide to find out; Your next clue will come, first, solve this:_

 _How did I do it?_

 _I'm watching you._

 _S.H_

* * *

"Why did you come back?" Kakashi watched his students.

Naruto's question seemed to strike some sort of nerve, as Sasuke froze. He turned slowly, his eyes meeting Naruto's in a questioning gaze. "Because I heard, uh… the _news,_ on Sa- her, and came to investigate."

Uchiha Sasuke stuttering? This was unheard of.

Naruto stiffened visibly at the words 'news' and 'Sakura' or at least part of it.

Team 7 were in their usual training grounds, as Naruto and Sasuke had their sparring match, which once again, ended in a tie. ( or at least Kakashi stopped them from killing each other )

The trio lay on the ground, two sweating, and one- reading porn.

Sasuke had been thinking about the memorial stone a lot. The slash across Sakura's name, and the note. But why would Sakura fake her own death, or something like that. Why couldn't she just tell Naruto and Kakashi, and her problems could be solved.

Why? Why? **Why?**

Unless something was stopping her, but it didn't match up.

Sasuke sighed, subconsciously.

What a drag.

He'd borrow Shikamaru's phrase for a while.

* * *

She pulled the black cloak around her tiny figure, as she continued to hop through the trees.

In a while she would meet her master. Punish her, he would.

She shivered, as he thought about him. If she got caught, who knew what would happen.

Hopefully he understood. But her master was not one to understand the feelings of others.

Her eyes darted cautiously around the clearing. Seeing no intruders, she unstrapped her pack, and set up camp.

 _You're getting closer._

The thought of reality was fearsome. She couldn't deny her thoughts. Her conscience reminded her of that, constantly. Closer to Master. Closer to her punishment.

She'd delay her trip back, if she could. But _he_ wasn't patient. _He_ would not tolerate unpunctuality.

A small delay would be a lucky escape. To delay her trip by even one day, that was more than lucky.

 _She didn't have a choice._ Reality was harsh, but true. The seal on her prevented her from speaking. But genjutsu?

No.

* * *

Freedom. Uchiha Sasuke had never felt the emotion.

His whole life had been shadowed, cover by the mere silhouette of his older- _perfect_ brother.

Part of Sasuke hated him, but one part admired him. In some cruel, sick, _ungodly,_ way, he did. How could he, he told himself. Admire the man who brought you pain? How could you?

Really, how could he? Being an Uchiha, he was forced to be the best of the best, training for hours and days on end- it was all part of normal life. The Uchiha lifestyle.

Itachi had grown up to be a prodigy, better then all of his clan. Itachi grew up being praised, being drowned in admiration- and he? Sasuke wished for nothing more at a younger age. He grew up in his brother's shadow.

Sasuke longed to be the shinobi that Itachi was, powerful, and even just simply- _loved._ He wanted to be loved.

He knew that Itachi had loved him, at some point, at least. What did Itachi feel now?

Kami knows, how would he know?

The pain of the situation bit at his heart. His teammate presumed dead, (or not), his brother still out there, waiting for Sasuke to fight him.

And so was Sakura.

The evidence was clear, she was dead, the situation still didn't add up. How could she cast a genjutsu on herself without Kakashi sensing it? The copy-nin had the sharringan, which allowed him to see her chakra patterns.

The said copy-nin had been emotionless about the situation, but he was acting suspicious. It was clear something was wrong with him, but he seemed to feel no pain on Sakura's presumed death.

Could Kakashi know Sakura was alive? Is she alive?

 _Too many questions._ Sasuke sighed for the millionth time today, as he sat in the couch of his temporary 'house'. House arrest wasn't very pleasant, with the ANBU guards patrolling every millisecond.

A familiar chakra pattern approached the door, and Sasuke found himself staring at the face of the hyperactive blonde. The idiot was still colour blind, he noted, as Naruto pranced around in his orange jumpsuit.

"Sasuke-teme, hehe, can I have some advice?"

Oh great. Just what he needed. Sasuke sighed in his head, (again) and turned to look at Naruto. The blond started back at him, his face changing into a sheepish grin as the seconds passed by.

The question would've been normal, but Sasuke was a rogue ninja. Who happened to prance back into his home villiage.

"For what, which ramen flavor to try out?"

Naruto's face turned into a scowl.

"Eh, Sasuke-teme, not about ramen, about -um-, g-girls!"

Sasuke gave into the urge to slap his forehead. "Who are you asking out? Yamanaka?"

Naruto appeared shocked. "Ino? She's Sak- _her_ friend, do you imagine what state she's in now?"

Sasuke tucked this information away for later. "Cut to the chase, dobe, who are you asking out?"

Naruto blushed beet red, and rubbed the back of his neck characteristically. "H-Hinata!"

Hyuga? Naruto finally noticed she liked him?

"Hyuga?" Sasuke said, voicing his thoughts.

"Yeah, Hinata Hyuga, how many other girls called Hinata do you know?"

"None."

"Sasuke-teme, that's beside the point!"

Sasuke smirked, the long forgotten gesture had finally been put to use. Though he would never admit it, he had missed the long fights between him and Naruto.

Naruto stood waiting for advice, looking at him expectantly.

"Just ask her out. She like you anyway."

Naruto smiled. "!"

"Really Sasuke-teme? You'd better not be lying, you, um, teme!"

Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto stared.

"I'm not lying, dobe. I'm actually concerned with your lack of awareness. She's liked you since academy days."

Naruto half-heartedly glared, but his face was brought into a smile at his lavender eyed girl.

"Thanks Sasuke-teme! I'm gonna ask her out to Ichiraku!"

 _God he's clueless._

Sasuke just turned away and started walking.

"Haruno Sakura….. Just who were you?"

* * *

Sasuke put his smart brains to use. The note, the kunai, the genjutsu…?

Ugh. Sakura was a talented medic-nin. That's all he knew about her.

Kabuto had spoke highly of her. Many times. But he hadn't listened.

 _First Mistake._

He left the Leaf.

 _Second._

His concentration on walking was disrupted, as an idea surfaced in his mind.

He tripped on a rock.

The pain of the stone stubbing his foot didn't process in his mind.

Kabuto used to tell him, he would use the Uchiha genes to replicate the sharringan. He cloned the genes.

He _cloned_ the genes.

Clones! Of course! A genetic clone would be easy to make, judging by Sakura's skills in medic areas.

And when she faked her death, all she had to do was put the clone in place, and then damage its vitals.

Easy.

Genius.

 _Next clue, Sakura._

Sasuke opened the door to his temporary house.

It was so blank. So dark. Just like his life.

But he had something interesting to work on. Sakura's little problem.

 _Tut. Tut._

This was oh so interesting. He was glad he left the Sound Village.

All over a girl.

* * *

tbc.

Reveiws are appreciated.


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